


Curse

by bootlace



Series: Linked Universe [4]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Sky (Linked Universe)-centric, basically sky blames himself for what the others went through cause of demises curse, self blame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:01:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26355394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bootlace/pseuds/bootlace
Summary: At first, Sky had thought that the curse was a bluff. One last desperate attempt from a dying god to take away some of the happiness he would have after the battle. Sure, maybe he felt a little different after the battle, but that's to be expected after a fight like that. What use would it be to dwell on something that wasn’t going to come to fruition?
Relationships: Sky & Everyone
Series: Linked Universe [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009473
Comments: 11
Kudos: 145





	Curse

**Author's Note:**

> uhhh this is my first time writing for LU?? and also my first time writing in months. anyway take some sky angst.

At first, Sky had thought that the curse was a bluff. One last desperate attempt from a dying god to take away some of the happiness he would have after the battle. Sure, maybe he felt a little different after the battle, but that's to be expected after a fight like that. What use would it be to dwell on something that wasn’t going to come to fruition?  
But standing here, looking at eight other people with eerily familiar eyes, Sky realizes what error he has made. He has made the unforgivable mistake of underestimating a god. Even dying gods have the power to alter someone’s life out of their control, and Demise has altered these men and boy’s lives beyond repair.  
Sky is fairly certain that Four is his direct successor, considering that he is the only one, not including Wild, who doesn’t have some tale of the Hero of Time, whether alive, missing, or dead. Most of the heroes started their journeys far too young, and Four is no exception. He tells a tale of wandering a festival with his best friend before having to watch her turn to stone. He tells of bringing the elements together to reforge a sword, only to have the same sword tear him apart. He tells of a friend whose last act was to save him by destroying himself.  
Sky feels his heart start to break.  
Time is Sky’s best guess for next, after Four. Sky doesn’t know much of his adventures, only that he has separated from the flow of time multiple times, and that he may have fought the moon? No one is quite sure if that was a joke. But what they do know is that that’s where the timeline split. Time itself warped and weaved and broke apart to account for one boy who wanted to stay a kid a little longer, instead of being stuck in a body with too long arms and legs and too many gaps where knowledge should be. The flow of time lept to accommodate, but that also left the stream where Time died. Time *died*. Sky can’t help but feel responsible. Even though Time is living, breathing, standing before him, he still feels the gap in his heart as if he were gone.  
Sky feels guilty for wishing that there was no timeline where Tim perished, because if he hadn’t then there would be no Legend or Hyrule. At the same time he wonders if they would have existed if there was one timeline, just happier, less hurt by the world and the tasks laid before them. Legend claims that he has been on six quests, and yet he tells tales of only five. But Sky sees the way he stares out to sea as they sit on the beach on Outset Island and how he gazes almost longingly at the seagulls that screech overhead.  
Legend does not talk of his sixth adventure and that is the one that Sky fears hurt him the most.  
Hyrule has only been on two adventures, but Sky is certain that most of the fighting he did was just a product of everyday life in the destroyed civilization of his home. Hyrule speaks of his two adventures freely and doesn’t seem to leave anything out. At least that’s what Sky assumed until they were deposited in Hyrule’s land and the monsters screamed for his blood. It explained a lot actually. After making sure everyone else was okay, the first thing Hyrule did after a battle was try to stop his own bleeding. Even if he had a broken bone or a concussion, he always stopped the blood first.  
Sky can’t help but blame himself for that too. Hyrule couldn’t even treat his worst injuries first because he had to focus on not getting *killed by a cult*.  
Wind was the only one that they were certain lived in the timeline that Time had left behind, and his Hyrule was *flooded*. Time leaving had somehow ended with water crashing down upon his home, killing who knows how many people. Wind doesn’t seem to take much issue with it, however. He clearly loves his home, and he shows off as much as he can of it to the group whenever they visit, taking them from island to island on Tetra’s ship. Sky stares off the side of that ship and feels as though he is getting crushed by hundreds of tons of water.  
Even in the timeline that Time stays in all is not well. Time still has more work to do, even after ripping the fabric of time into thirds. And Twilight, who looks at his namesake every night with the same sort of longing that Legend has, the longing that can only come from a broken heart that can never be fully healed.  
Sky can’t help but wonder if they could’ve found love if the curse didn’t hang over their heads.  
Wild was an enigma, both timeline wise and in general. None of the heroes had heard of him, and the only hero he had heard of was one ten thousand years before him. Wild had wrangled four ancient beasts, scoured the land for seeds and shrines, defeated ganon, and still had time to build a town amongst it all. He also fished by jumping straight into the water with a knife and spent as much free time as he could shield surfing. He startles awake from nightmares that he can’t quite remember and stares off into space for hours to catch a glimpse of a memory from a hundred years prior. Sky wishes he could restore his memory, even if Wild says he is okay without it.  
Sky can hardly bear to think about Warriors’ story. That sorceress had started a war just to get to his spirit - *their* spirit. She was so desperate to get her hands on a single cursed soul, destined to repeat the same story over and over, that she had torn apart time and space. She had failed, clearly, but that didn’t absolve Sky of any guilt. If he had not let demise curse them, there would have been no hero’s soul to rip the Guardian of Time apart.  
Sky had told them of his adventures before. He talks of the wing ceremony, and his first time on the surface. He tells them of the sword spirits. He does tell them of Demise, but he doesn’t mention the curse. He knows they will hate him for it, and he wants to cherish the time when they still care for him before it’s gone.  
He does tell them, eventually. They are sitting on a hill in Wild’s Hyrule and Sky finally finishes his tale. He has the curse memorized by then, and as he repeats it he curls in on himself. He shuts his eyes, preparing for yelling and cursing, or even violence. He flinches when someone touches him, expecting to be hit. He does not expect warm arms around him. Slowly, he reaches up and wraps his arms around the person. He feels the soft fabric of Wild’s tunic mixed with the dirty strands of his hair. A second later, another pair of arms surrounds him, then a third, and a fourth, until Sky is surrounded by his friends. They are all products of his mistakes, but they don’t blame him. Sky still mourns what never was, but he also looks at his friends with pride.  
Sky did not curse his friends, Demise did. Sky is glad that he has already avenged them.

**Author's Note:**

> oh fun fact im active in the lu discord its a good time


End file.
